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Wednesday, 19 December 2012

A Royal Mummy Murder Mystery: Was Pharaoh Ramesses III Assassinated?

It's a
question that has bothered Egyptologists for over one hundred years: was
Ramesses III murdered?

The Mummy of Ramesses III

Certain
papyri record the trials of men and women involved in a plot to assassinate the
pharaoh, but from these alone, it is difficult to tell whether the king survived
the attempt on his life. One thing is sure, however, this was a large scale
harem conspiracy, centred on a lesser royal wife called Tiye, who hoped to
place her son, Prince Pentaweret on the throne; she was aided, not by a few
scheming nobles, lurking in the shadows of the palace, but by a host of high
ranking members of the administration, recruited by the chamberlain to the plot.
Members of the treasury and army were also involved, as well as palace serving
staff and scribes. Not content to rely solely on physical strength to overcome
the king, the conspirators stole books of magic from the royal library, and
used the instructions within to form wax figurines, designed to harm the royal
bodyguard, and wax gods to hurt the king.

Whatever
happened to Ramesses III, the plot was ultimately unsuccessful, and Ramesses
IV, the intended heir to the throne succeeded him. The conspirators were sentenced
to death, forced to commit suicide, or mutilated. Punishments were extended to
family members too.

Now, when
trying to determine whether Ramesses III survived the plot or not, you'd think that
having his body would be a definite advantage, but no, all examinations proved
inconclusive. When Gaston Maspero partially unwrapped the body in 1886, he
found its bandages had hardened due to a thick resin coating; much to his
disappointment I'm sure, the linen couldn't be removed without damaging the
mummy. He did find 'mysterious figures drawn onto the bandages, however, and an
image of the god Amun as a winged ram. These were unusual additions to the
usual 'mummy package' and again raised the question, what had happened to the
king?

This question
couldn't be answered. Until now.

Published
in BMJ (Dec 2012, http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8268), a recent study of
Ramesses III's mummy, using CT-scanning and forensic analyses, has shown the
unfortunate king to have a deep wound at his throat, perhaps caused by a knife.
The attacker, it seems, sliced into the pharaoh's neck, cutting through his
trachea, oesophagus, and large blood vessels, undoubtedly killing the
king immediately. The royal embalmers, unwilling to commit their king to
eternity with a gaping wound, placed a wedjet-eye
(The Eye of Horus) into the cut to magically re-seal it (the Eye represents a
return to completeness), and wrapped multiple layers of linen around his neck.
Today, adorned with his linen scarf, Ramesses looks chic enough for a causal stroll down the banks of the Seine;he only lacks his beret and cigarette. No
wonder no one believed he'd been murdered, he seems far too serene.

But murdered he was, if the report is to be believed, and
not only him - the research team also think they've found the body of Prince
Pentaweret, previously known only as Unknown Man E. His DNA showed him to be
related to Ramesses III, and there is a good chance that he died by
strangulation (though the trial papyri state that Pentaweret killed himself,
making strangulation a rather unlikely cause of death). His body was then
mummified. Badly. As if the embalmers, were instructed to "get it done,
but don't waste too much time on it." His internal organs and brain,
typically removed during mummification, were left within, and his body was then
covered with a 'ritually impure' goatskin.In this condition, he was found in 1886, stored in the royal mummy cache
at Deir el-Bahri (DB 320) alongside his father.

So now the arguments can begin afresh. Will the academic
community challenge the results of the study? What further interpretations can
be read into the evidence at hand?

About Garry

I am an Egyptologist, Lecturer and Author, writing on ancient history, travel and heritage.

I am the author of The Pharaoh: Life at Court and on Campaign, The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends, and War and Trade with the Pharaohs: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Egypt's Foreign Relations.

I have taught Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, the University of Liverpool, the Egypt Exploration Society, and as a part-time tutor for Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education. As an archaeologist, I've worked for fieldwork projects in Egypt, Turkey, and the UK.

My work has appeared in The Independent, The Art Newspaper, Apollo Magazine, History Today, Timeless Travels, Current World Archaeology, Science Magazine, B.Inspired (Brussels Airline Magazine), and Showbiz Culture (SC Exhibitions Magazine), among others.